Melanie Stiassny

Melanie Lisa Jane Stiassny (born 17 January 1953 in Bielefeld, Germany) is the Axelrod Research Curator of Ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History. Her research interests focus on freshwater biodiversity documentation and systematic ichthyology in the Old World tropics, including tropical Africa (especially in the Congo River) and Madagascar. She has published broadly on the biogeography conservation and systematics of teleosts. Stiassny holds both a BS and a Ph.D. from Kings College London, and has previously taught at Harvard University and Columbia University and is now a professor in the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History. She is a member of the National Council of the World Wildlife Fund, the Advisory Council of Conservation International’s Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, the Advisory Board of National Geographic Society’s Conservation Trust., and the Deutsche Cichliden Gesellschaft (DCG, German Cichlid Society).She was honored with the creation of the Stiassnyiformes in recognition of her contributions to ichthyology and systematics.

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